[anatta]

In general, you should prefer to bet the turn and check the river for a free showdown, rather than check the turn and give your opponent a free card. Checking the turn is not so bad if only 1 or 2 overcards beat you, but a hand like yours is vulnerable and should be protected. What you want to avoid is what happened here, your opponent would have been making a mistake if he called your turn bet, but since you didn't bet, he saw the river for free.

Everyone gets check-raised on the turn, and nobody likes it holding just one pair, but if you want to be good at this game, you got to be STRONG on the turn!

BTW, your opponent checked the river because your turn check looked like a free card on a flush draw.